In Retrospect

It has been almost six months since I blew Italy a final goodbye kiss, making silent promises to return as soon as humanly possible... six months in which so much has happened, so many circumstances changed, yet if I close my eyes and allow my mind to drift for a few moments, I can practically feel the heat radiating off the cobblestones, steering me into the nearest gelateria. I can practically taste the early morning cappuccino kickstarts. I can practically hear the vespas racing around and the "ciao bellas" being thrown about by all the local would-be Casanovas...

In short- I miss it. The other day I was having a conversation with my mother who just returned from an 8 day Italian getaway with my dad, and I was having her describe her favorite moments of the trip. Things like particularly amazing pieces of art, breath-taking sites, etc. When she asked me mine about Florence, I had to say that it was no one thing. It was just being in the city. It is just the feeling that you get walking among the people and sites and sounds and smells. Florence has the most incredibly warm vibrance about it, like the people haven't changed in hundreds of years. Like the sunsets over watched over the Arnot river were just as beautiful when da Vinci and Michelangelo and all of their cohorts of the day were the ones observing them. Like the dish you are enjoying was a hundred years in the making as the recipe was perfected by each generation. Like you may be looking at a piece of art that millions of tourists have seen before you, but when you see it for the first time it feels like you and the artist are having an intimate one-on-one conversation.

I brought a lot home with me. Sure, a lot of physical pieces of the country I had a love affair with, but more importantly were the things I brought back in my heart. A fiery independence I had never known myself to possess. An ability to actually slow down for once and enjoy all the beauty around me. A new perspective- in many ways the world feels both bigger and smaller now.

All I know is that there have been so many times this fall that I have been so thankful for my experiences this summer and the growth that they provided for, especially while I am plotting the next big chapter of my life! Next city to take by storm...

NYC!!! (I guess I will have to start a new blog for that one... perhaps "Cheesecake with Gershwin"). Okay, so the title needs a little work. So sue me! or better yet, fuhgeddabboutit... :)